1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a door glass guide mechanism for a motor vehicle, and more particularly to improvements in a door glass guide mechanism for a motor vehicle, being suitable for use in a side door having a rear side door frame inclined along a center pillar leaned forwardly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, in so-called sporty type motor vehicles, such as for example two-door type passenger cars, the center pillars have been designed to lean forwardly to express a sporty feeling. In accordance thereto, such side doors have been used as to have rear side door frames leaned forwardly along the center pillars.
As the conventional door glass guide mechanism in a door for motor vehicle, being used at the time of opening or closing a door glass, as shown in FIG. 4, there has been one in which the aforesaid mechanism comprises: a door frame glass guide 17 formed at the front side of a rear side door frame 12A and having a U-shape in cross-section; a rear guide 18 formed from the top to the bottom in alignment with the door frame glass guide 17 at the rear portion in door panel 16; and a front guide 19 formed from the top to the bottom in parallel to the rear guide 18 to a position upwardly of a beltline portion 16A at the front portion in the door panel 16; whereby a door glass 14 is guided in the vertical direction in a substantially horizontal posture by the rear and the front guides 18 and 19, while being held in a direction of the thickness thereof by the door frame glass guide 17. In the drawing, designated at 15 is a triangular patch. In this case, the rigidity of holding the door glass 14 in the direction of the thickness of the door glass 14 in the state where the door glass 14 is opened is high, so that the door glass 14 can be moved in the vertical direction without the door glass 14 being unstable.
However, with the door in which the rear side door frame 12A is forwardly leaned, the door glass 14 is received in the door panel 15 in such a manner that the door glass 14 is moved obliquely and rearwardly along the rear guide 18 being in alignment with the door frame glass guide 17 at the front side of the rear side door frame 12A, whereby the rearward bulge-out of the door panel 18 is increased. The necessity of securing a space for installing functional parts such as door lock means 17 and the like at the rear portion in the door panel 16 disadvantageously leads to a further large-sized door. (Refer to solid lines A in FIG. 4).
To obviate the above-described disadvantage, there may be proposed a method of reducing the forwardly leaning angle of the front portion of the forwardly leaned rear side frame 12A to decrease the angle of the door glass 14 entering the interior of the door panel 16 (Refer to two-dot chain line B in FIG. 4). However, in this case, the rear side door frame 12A is increased in its width in the vicinity of the beltline 16A of the door panel 16, thereby presenting such new disadvantages that the appearance is deteriorated and the field of view in the lateral direction is adversely affected.
Furthermore, in view of the fact that the door glass 14 is received in the door panel in a manner to be moved along the rear side door frame 12A, whereby the rear portion of the door panel 16 is bulged rearwardly, there may be proposed that, as shown in FIG. 5, at the front and the rear portions in the door panel 16, there may be provided a rear guide 28 and a front guide 29 for engaging the bottom end portions in the front and the rear of the door glass 14 to determine the moving path of the door glass 14, and the door glass 14 is arranged to vertically move along the rear and the front guides 28 and 29, whereby, irrespective of the forwardly leaning angle of the rear side door frame 12A, the door glass 14 is received in the door panel 12 without the rear portion of the door panel 16 being bulged out.
However, in this case, such a disadvantage is presented that, in the state where the door glass 14 is opened, only the lower end portion in the door panel 16 of the door glass 14 is held by a stabilizer 27, rear guide 28 and front guide 29, whereby the looseness of the upper portion of the door glass 14 in the direction of the thickness of the door glass 14 is increased.